Academy Arc 9

A few days after I cleared the Rank F dungeon, I took a moment to take stock of my stats, skills and items.

Over the past year I had been steadily accumulating the free stat points I acquired through level ups, quest rewards or other sources. As a result of my frugal saving, I was able to stockpile 93 free stat points. However, those efforts weren't for nothing; they were for the purposes of increasing training efficiency.

The theory was that the higher my stats, the longer I had to train to raise any single stat point. Thus, by withholding the free stat points, the speed of stat training would not be compromised. At least in theory, that is. I wasn't some mathematician that had a mental excel sheet in my mind tracking every stat increase and the gap between each one. It might seem irresponsible, but I was mostly going at it without much forethought.

Furthermore, I also thought it effective to maintain the façade of a normal academy student by not doubling my physical prowess out of the blue. Wasn't there a saying that went some thing like, one must first fool your friends; if I was ever in a dire straits, having those emergency stat points as a trump card might just be the key to survival.

Even though I was uncomfortable looking at my uneven stats such as my STR and DEX which were just a hair away from reaching 50 that would net me two new perks, I still had a couple years until graduation, so I definitely still had time to organically improve them.

Next, on the subject of my items. I was having trouble deciding what I was going to do with the mountain of miscellaneous item drops I received from the zombies in the dungeon. There were over a hundred of them and they were a diverse variety consisting of lighters, nail clippers, rubber bands and dozens others. My inventory space had an unlimited space, as far as I knew, but it was literally tedious sorting through these items whenever I needed to retrieve something in particular.

The items seemed almost brand new. Most of them had little to no visible signs of wear and tear, so I kept the few that I would need around the house. But an overwhelming majority were useless to me. I definitely had no use for thirty different types of water bottles.

Initially I wanted to just leave them in the Konoha rubbish dump, since I had no real use for a vast majority of the items. However, on my way to said dump, I actually encountered something called a thrift shop that was advertising that they were buying and selling used goods. The existence of such a shop was baffling in and of itself – why would anyone want to buy secondhand goods when they could just get brand new ones? I supposed it might have been some sort of peasant joke that I was too rich to understand, but I didn't question it because when in Rome and all that.

Of course I couldn't just walk in and start dumping stuff out of my inventory on to the counter, so I used a trolley and some garbage bags to transport the items from my home to the shop. I managed to sell off around half of the ordinary loot I received, which totalled up to just under 10,000 ryo. Some of them were worth more money like jewellery or electronics, but most were sold for just chump change.

The Rogue's Hoodie that I was wearing in my fight with the Hidden Boss but had been tattered beyond belief was brought to a tailor for repairs. The tailor had taken one look at the loose shreds of cloth and straightaway advised me to toss them in the trash; saying that it would be less costly to just buy a new jacket altogether.

However, given that the item description showed that it was still barely hanging on with 3 points of durability remaining which meant the item effects were still intact. Add to that my inherent loot-hoarding tendencies; I really did not want to lose an uncommon grade item, especially one that was part of an item set.

Since I was worried about how the whole ship of Theseus thought experiment might apply to a jacket – at which point would the repaired jacket no longer be identified as the original jacket – so I firmly requested the tailor to fix it rather than to replace it, and even emphasized the importance of not damaging the current article of clothing further than it already was.

The end product was a gnarly looking jacket with frayed seams and distinctive stitches across all the once torn openings. Its initial nondescript, plain style was relaced with an ostentatiously macabre appearance. The item effects still remained; however the maximum durability of the Rogue's Hoodie had been reduced to 21 instead of the original 30. A satisfactory compromise, I supposed.

I also conducted a little experiment with the Berserker's Eyepatch, the one that reduced all my stats by half if I wore it. See, I had been curious if the artificial reduction my stats would enable to take advantage of the increased rate of stat growth due to the aforementioned lowered stats.

Long story short? It did. But there were still some limitations, however. For example, halving my INT stat also meant significantly reducing my CP reserve and CP regeneration. As such, it also reduced the amount of time I could train chakra-related skills. Secondly, training outside while wearing the eyepatch just looked plain weird, and I wasn't inclined to look like an attention-seeking brat wearing an eyepatch just to draw attention.

Despite these limitations, training with the eyepatch was still extremely effective if done so in the privacy of my own home where no judgemental gazes would befall me. Coupled with the Bodybuilder's Dumbbells I acquired from the Kinniku Baka boss, my STR stat training was doubly effective.

I was also curious about the effects of items on regular people that was not part of the Gamer System. For example, would the eyepatch reduce anyone's stats by 50%, or was it just me? So during one day I had pulled out the Berserker's Eyepatch and showed it to my friends, claiming that it was something I had found on the floor. My intention was to see if its effects would kick in if someone other than me were to wear it.

If its effects did activate, that would mean items I received from dungeons, or more accurately, items I received from the Gamer system also applied to other people. And that would open up a whole can of worms that I did not even want to deal with at the moment.

When I showed my friends the eyepatch, talking about how cool it was and how cool it would be for someone to wear it, Naruto voluntarily, nay, demanded to try it on. Before he put on the Berserker's Eyepatch, I used [Observe] to check his status so I could see if there was any effect on his HP and CP since lowered VIT and INT would correspondingly lower those parameters.

Fortunately for my sanity, there seemed to be no change to Naruto's HP and CP before and after he put on the eyepatch. When I asked if he felt any different upon wearing the eyepatch, the boy simply and loudly proclaimed that he was going to one day become the pirate king, to everyone's chagrin.

After entertaining his childishness for some time, I asked for the eyepatch back since I still needed it for training. Naruto was reluctant, but despite his poor upbringing he was no thief nor was he someone who would take what did not belong to him, so he grudgingly gave back the eyepatch.

My little experiment showed that the Gamer system only had a bearing on myself unless the other individual was involved in some manner like being invited to my party if such a party system existed. Of course, that was something I would definitely not be interested in sharing, especially during the academy years since children had notoriously loose lips. It wouldn't take a genius to realize the domino effect that would take place and ultimately lead me under a scientist's scalpel or other such dire consequences.

The reason why I was organizing myself in such a way was because my last experience in a dungeon was admittedly harrowing and served as a warning. I was truly intending on conquering the [Uchiha Natural Dungeon], I had to prepare myself thoroughly before entering, especially since the dungeons and consequently its hidden bosses were only going to get harder and harder from here on out.

Any carelessness or recklessness would only see my HP drop to zero – and that was something I was not interested in ever experiencing. Neither did I want to experience again the feeling of being outclasses so thoroughly – not just by hidden bosses, but by any of my future opponents. Sure it was thrilling and exhilarating to put my life on the line in a close but intense fight, trading blows and allowing instinct to take over. But it was also foolish to even be partaking in such an even fight to begin with.

What I said to Sasuke a few days prior also resonated with myself: methodically build my strength, making ample preparations, investigate and scrutinize any potential conflict, and most importantly to be patient and wait for opportunities. I needed to temper my anticipation to grind EXP and items in a dungeon; being foolhardy would only squander the opportunity I received.

"Welcome back!" The group chorused while the girl who was the sole target of our attention blushed heavily under our combined gazes. Today was the day Kaori returned back to the academy and our little, or not so little anymore, group of friends decided to throw a small party to welcome her back. The standard rookie nine group was present, except for Sasuke of course. Even though the frostiness in him had warmed up slightly after our talk and his revelation of another living Uchiha, he still treated anyone other than me with some hostility.

When I invited him to join us for the celebration, he only took a moment before saying no. But at the very least it was an improvement to how he would've responded before, which would have been an instant and aggressive "fuck off."

Aside from the usual few, there were a few other of our classmates who joined our little gathering. They were some of the civilian students Kaori was close with so I didn't particularly mind their presence.

The party was actually planned by, unsurprisingly, Ino, after I informed her a day before that Kaori was intending to return to the Shinobi Academy today. Unsurprising because Ino was always the one who resembled my past self the most, always the socialite who gathered friends and formed cliques. As such planning a party, any sort of party, was right down her alley.

And also because I knew that her childish rivalry with Kaori over my 'affections' held no malice whatsoever. It was a friendly, albeit stupid, competition that I guaranteed would not last long. They probably weren't going to be best friends anytime soon, or at all. They had a mismatch of personalities since Kaori was too meek when it came to anything other than me and Ino was someone who sought popularity over genuinity. But still, there was an amicable friendship between them under the disguise of a rivalry.

Shino was someone who I wouldn't peg as a person who would voluntarily participate in parties, but seeing that he took an active role in helping free Kaori from her tormentors, it made sense he would want to be present to welcome her back.

"Th-thank you… glad to be back?" Kaori shyly sputtered out.

There was an awkward pause following her reply, the rest not really knowing how to react or what to do next. Sensing the uncomfortable silence, I quickly took charge of the awkward situation, "Sorry we didn't prepare much, I think some of us just bought some stuff from the store or home." I mentioned while gesturing to the table of foodstuff. We were gathered around one of the tables in the Shinobi Academy cafeteria, and the small party was taking place during lunchtime.

There were some traditional Japanese snacks like dango and mochi, but also some actual food stuff like rice balls, bento boxes and a conspicuously large bowl of take away ramen. Some was bought prior to the party at a local convenience store or brought from home.

I personally prepared one of the bento boxes displayed. My cooking was something I was particularly proud of; it was not a skill that was granted by the Gamer system which could easily be levelled up after some time. No, it was an artform which took real blood and sweat to improve. Hundreds of trial and error, nicking my fingers when dicing produce, scalding myself on hot cookware; after all that, I couldn't help but be proud of my success in the culinary arts.

It wasn't a skill I intended to hide either, like my Gamer abilities which I was forced to conceal. Rather, I intended on displaying my results. Thus, in preparation for the potluck gathering we were holding for Kaori, I cooked up a veritable feast for my 'customers'. I woke up at the break of dawn and headed to the wet markets so that I could secure the freshest and best quality produce.

Following which, I spent the next few hours before school to make some of the dishes I was most proficient in. Unlike the foods that were most prominent in this world, which was more along the lines of Japanese cuisine, I made Western dishes that I was more familiar with. Seared scallops, roasted cauliflower, aglio olio spaghetti and grilled lamb shank. All of them seasoned to perfection.

Kaori bashfully replied, "You guys didn't have to do all this. I'm just glad to be back."

"Nonsense!" I declared, "There's no way we wouldn't celebrate your return, right guys?"

The rest mutedly agreed but Kiba cut in loudly, "Of course!"

Sakura approached Kaori and looked her up and down as if checking on her injuries, "How did you hurt yourself training? Are you feeling better?"

Hinata and Shikamaru exchanged looks, but Shino and I did not betray our thoughts. The official story that was shared with our classmates was that Kaori had injured herself while training, and as a result was bedridden for the past two weeks. The other kids who were coincidentally expelled the day she got 'injured'? Totally unrelated.

The true story was covered up by Kaori's request. She didn't want the whole school to know that she was the victim of bullying nor the fact that she was partially responsible for the expulsion of seven students whose friends might not take kindly to that. The administration respected her wishes and informed the involved parties who keep it on the down low.

"Ah… you know how careless I can be heh." Kaori lied, more convincing that I thought she would be, but it would have probably been fine regardless. The only one who might have been sharp enough to notice the connection between the expulsion and Kaori's absence from school, which was Shikamaru, was directly involved in the incident and was thus in the loop so to speak. The other children were… well, children. Shinobi-in-training they might be, looking underneath the underneath was not yet a skill in their repertoire.

"How are you feeling now? Still injured?" Sakura asked with some genuine concern.

Kaori paused for a moment before responding, "No- Not a hundred percent yet, but I thought I would get better faster if I returned to the academy."

Choji who was salivating at the food briefly glanced at the girl before asking, "Eh? You should stay home longer if you're still hurting."

I subtly shook my head at his query. It wasn't physical damage she was recuperating from, that she recovered completely a week ago. Rather, it was the mental trauma inflicted upon her fragile and young psyche that was troubling her. She wasn't going to get better any time soon if she just cooped herself up in her room and drowned in the loneliness and despair. Socializing with children her age and being amongst friends would serve Kaori much better.

"Uhm, well, I was just bored staying at home I suppose." The girl slowly answered. From the corner of my eye I saw Shikamaru's eyebrow raised just half a millimetre at her words, but he just lazily looked away.

"If I were you, I would have stayed home for another month. Nope, three months. Wait, a year would be perfect." He murmured under his breath quietly but was apparently heard by his loud blonde friend.

Ino smacked Shikamaru's back, her eyebrow twitching, "What's wrong with you! Can't you say welcome back like a normal person? That's so mean!"

"Ouch, what the- what's wrong with you?" The lazy Nara demanded while shifting away from his violent friend.

"You just said you would have preferred if Kaori stayed home for another year!" Ino practically screamed at him, while everyone just looked on in horror at what he meant.

"Huh? Where did you get that from? All I meant was if I were in her shoes, I would want to stay home as long as I could you violent girl!"

Ino widened her eyes and covered her mouth abashedly, "Oh… well, oops. But still, you could've been more… compassionate!"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and just dug his ear with his pink lazily while looking away.

Kaori hurriedly came to the Nara's defence, "A-ano, I'm sure Shikamaru-kun meant well! He- he's nice."

Ino looked back at the girl curiously, "Shikamaru-kun? Nice?" She narrowed her eyes in suspicion, "Why the sudden familiarity, hm? Is there something going on?"

Kaori blanched back in incredulity, "Huh? No way! That's impossible!"

The Yamanaka hummed in response but continued pushing. "Hmm, then why so defensive? Do you have something to hide?", she asked while prodding at Kaori with a finger.

The orphan merely waved her hands out in front of her, "I'm not being defensive, you're the one-!"

The boy in question just blankly glanced at the scene and muttered, "troublesome…" under his breath while the rest watched on with some amusement.

"Ano, can we start eating? I'm starving." Choji asked while eyeing the food hungrily as his stomach growled lightly.

I smiled and patted him on the back, genuinely happy he was so excited to try my cooking, "Well, that's up to today's main character, Kaori."

The girl perked up at my mentioning of her name, "Ah, please go ahead!"

"Yahoo!" The rowdier boys, namely Naruto and Kiba, cheered and started digging in to the assembled foods.

"Delicious!" Naruto yelled out while slurping down a mouthful of ramen.

I narrowed my eyes at him. What was the point of the potluck if he was just going to eat the ramen he brought? At least try my food you brat.

I looked around at the children who were all picking bits and pieces from every dish on to their own plates. I was more interested in seeing the reactions from people who ate my cooking rather than eating myself. However, to my dismay, it seemed like everyone was partaking in every other dish other than mine.

A feeling of dread, doubt and anxiousness overtook my psyche for a moment. What was this feeling? Was I under some kind of mental attack? A genjutsu perhaps?

But as I continued watching the children hungrily devouring the food on their plates that contained none of mine, the uneasiness and sheer distress simply grew deeper and larger. It didn't even seem like the Gamer's Mind was doing anything to combat that apprehension within me. What in the world was going on!?

The motley assortment of dreadful emotions coalesced into something I had never felt before, and it threatened to bubble over until I saw her – Kaori who scooped up nearly half of the food I made on to her plate without hesitation.

The girl looked up and saw me staring at her before blushing slightly, "Ah, I took too much didn't I? Sorry, I just love your cooking so much."

The bunched up knots of anxiety washed away upon seeing at least one person picking my dish. Was that what all those feelings were about? A sense of insecurity and inferiority? Well, I supposed that made some sense since my cooking was the only thing that I actively took pride in. And seeing the indifference of these brats, these philistines, these ignoramuses was simply an attack on my person.

Huh, insecurity and inferiority… I guess that was truly something I had never experienced before. How novel.

Kiba overheard Kaori's words and chimed in, "You like Shinji's cooking? I don't know, it always tasted kind of strange to me. Too heavy."

My eyes narrowed in cold fury, "Oi Kiba… Want to spar?"

The Inuzuka recoiled at that. It wasn't the first time the dog boy expressed his distaste over the food I made, and it wasn't the first time we 'sparred' after such comments were made. The Inuzuka heir was boisterous, and more often than not saw himself as the alpha of the class, however unearned such a perception was. But he knew that there was one line I allowed no one to cross; the reverse scale no one was allowed to touch, and that was my cooking.

"Wa-wait, Shinji, I meant strange as in… strangely good!" He hurriedly explained himself and moved towards the bento box I prepared and started shoving the pasta on his plate.

I smiled. "Eat slowly, or you might get indigestion."

Kiba audibly gulped.

Turning away from the Inuzuka, I approached Kaori and quietly asked, "How are you feeling really?"

Kaori swallowed down the mouthful of grilled lamb and replied with some apprehension. "I'm… I'm better."

I eyed her doubtfully, "You know you don't have to push yourself too hard. You can take your time before coming back. There's no pressure."

She shook her head, "No, I… I need this. I was going to go crazy if I stayed home any longer."

Nodding, I smiled and touched her arm, "Alright then, you know yourself best. Let me know if you need anything."

Kaori brightened up at my words but before she could respond, one of the civilian born friends came over and pulled her away, demanding she tried some dish or another. It was somewhat heart warming to see that she had other friends other than just me. I couldn't and didn't want to always be there for her, so it was good she would have other sources of comfort should I be unavailable.